CROOKSTON WRESTLING FALLS TO WCA AND BEAT BENSON – DANS GETS 100TH, COAUETTE HIS 50TH

The Crookston Pirate Wrestling team lost to West Central Area 45-29 and beat Benson 51-27 to split a pair of duals at the West Central Area triangular in Barrett, Minnesota.  

CROOKSTON vs WEST CENTRAL AREA
WCA took a 6-0 lead after winning the 106-pound match by forfeit.  Crookston responded, like they normally do, with a handful of wins in a row.  Nolan Dans got things going at 113-pounds with a pin with three seconds left in his match.  The win was Dans’ 100th victory of his career.  “Nolan getting the pin at 113 was huge for us to start the duel,” said Pirate Coach Wes Hanson. “He was able to lock up a nice move, his cobra move, late for a pin, and getting his 100th win is a huge compliment.”
Carter Coauette followed with a 5-0 decision victory, and Ethan Bowman won his match at 126 pounds by a 9-0 decision to give the Pirates a 13-6 lead. “Carter wrestled well the entire six minutes and didn’t give up any points.  He wrestled a solid match,” said Coach Hanson. “Ethan continued to wrestle well and he got the major decision for some bonus points.”  Zach Brown won by a pin in one-minute and Cam Weiland capped the five-match winning streak with a pin in the third period and the Pirates led 25-6 lead and things were looking good.  “Zach looked sharp in his match and came out strong,” said Coach Hanson. “Cam had a great matchup and he hit a big move for the pin.”
The match quickly turned around as West Central Area responded with a five-match winning streak with four pins and a decision to take a 33-25 lead with three matches left.  “That was tough,” said Coach Hanson. “The matches didn’t go our way so that hurt.”
Crookston’s Ethan Boll won at 195 pounds by a 13-3 decision to bring the Pirates within a 33-29 deficit, but West Central Area won the last two matches by pin to win the match 45-29.  “Ethan wrestled a solid matcha and was able to score some points for the win,” said Coach Hanson. “The guys wrestled well overall, we were just a couple of wins short.”

CROOKSTON vs BENSON
The start of the match was a bit of a bummer with four forfeits with Crookston winning three and Benson winning one and the Pirates led 18-6.  Carter Coauette won the 50th match of his career with a win by forfeit at 120 pounds. “Carter got his 50th win as a freshman and that is pretty impressive,” said Coach Hanson. “They didn’t fill their lineup, but we will take the wins.”
Zach Brown was the first to wrestle a match and he won by a pin in the second period at 132 pounds.  “Zach wrestled well against a strong opponent,” said Coach Hanson. “He had a nice move to get the pin.”
Cam Weiland won by a pin with eight seconds left in his match and Braxton Volker made quick work of his opponent and won by a bin in 30-seconds for a 30-6 lead.  “Both matches were hard fought and Cam had two nice matches for us,” said Coach Hanson. “Braxton had a takedown right away and got the quick pin.”
Benson won the next two matches by pin.
Hunter Knutson got the Pirates back on the winning track with a win by a pin and Cade DeLeon won by a 9-2 decision.  “When Hunter is getting his leg attacks he is tough,” said Coach Hanson. “Cade got the first takedown and controlled the match and extended his lead the entire time.  That was an awesome match.”
The next match was a battle of Benson’s #1 ranked Thomas Dineen and Crookston’s #2 ranked Ethan Boll.  It was a great match, but Dineen won by a 6-2 decision to get the win.  “It was a match we were looking forward too,” said Coach Hanson. “Ethan wrestled him twice at state last year and we were hoping he would get him this time, but the kid is ranked #1 for a reason.  It was a tough one for Ethan, but we need to keep getting better.”
Crookston won the last two matches with a Layten Fuentes pin and a Hunter Kresl forfeit victory to win the match 51-27. “Layten held position and was pushing the action from the neutral position and locked up his pin,” said Coach Hanson. “We had a lot of good matchups and we are getting better each week.  We have wrestled some very good teams and we need to keep working.”

Crookston is 12-6 in duals and will host Red Lake County Central and Blackduck-Cass Lake/Bena on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.  Benson drops to 7-5 on the year in duals.  West Central Area improves to 13-3 in duals.